A technique in which a transistor is formed using a semiconductor thin film has attracted attention. Such a transistor is applied to a wide range of electronic devices such as an integrated circuit (IC) and an image display device (also simply referred to as a display device). A silicon-based semiconductor material is widely known as a material for a semiconductor thin film applicable to a transistor. As another material, an oxide semiconductor has been attracting attention.
For example, a technique in which a display device is formed using a transistor including an oxide semiconductor (a zinc oxide or an In—Ga—Zn-based oxide) as an active layer is disclosed (see Patent Documents 1 and 2).
Moreover, in recent years, a technique in which an integrated circuit of a memory device is fabricated using a transistor including an oxide semiconductor has been disclosed (see Patent Document 3). In addition, not only the memory device but also an arithmetic device or other devices have been fabricated using a transistor including an oxide semiconductor.
However, it is known that a transistor including an oxide semiconductor as an active layer has a problem in that the electrical characteristics are easily changed by impurities and oxygen vacancies in the oxide semiconductor and thus the reliability is low. For example, the threshold voltage of the transistor is changed in some cases after a bias temperature stress test (BT test).